1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head rest for a vehicle seat.
2. Description of the Background Art
A frequent type of injury in motor vehicle accidents, in particular in rear-end collisions, is the cervical spine whiplash injury. This is caused by the fact that, during an accident, the abrupt acceleration of the vehicle occupants in the direction of travel results in an extreme extension movement of the head, which is overlaid by a simultaneous rotary and wobbling movement, usually around multiple spatial axes. As a result, the spinal neck musculature is overextended, which ultimately results in the aforementioned cervical spine whiplash injury.
To counteract this polyaxial wobbling movement, a headrest is known from DE 195 09 014, in which upper and lateral supporting bodies are extended in the direction of travel to stabilize the head. The supporting bodies are activated by an external drive, which is set in motion by a triggering sensor. The additional structural complexity caused by the external drive, including the associated components, which makes the headrest more expensive, has proven to be disadvantageous. Since the additional components must be accommodated in the headrest or the vehicle seat, the worthwhile implementation of a headrest of a vehicle seat having a compact structure is problematic.